June 20, 2014 is a special day. It is ELI's 6th birthday.Due to unfortunate circumstances last year of ELI's unexpected legal battle against a certain poet copyright extortionist, I was not able to announce nor celebrate ELI's 5th birthday last year. I had resigned my position as Editor-in-Chief and went silent out of disgust and protest of the situation.
However, last year is last year and thanks to the harassing shenanigans by Getty Images outside Lawyer Timmy McCormack (fondly known as Timmy Mack), I finally got pulled back into the ELI fold!
2014 is a new year and ELI is nearly restored to full strength (with some minor changes).
June 20, 2008 was a special day. It was the day I officially registered and launched extortionletterinfo.com (ELI). I didn't call it ELI back then. "ELI" was coined by Oscar Michelen shortly after his volunteer efforts and endorsement of my newly launched website. Back then, ELI was much uglier and there was no discussion forum! Days later after launch, I started getting my first emails from fellow victims sharing their stories and I began gathering data, information, and stories on the Getty scheme in the U.S.
On June 27, 2008, independently of ELI, Attorney Oscar Michelen made his first public post about the "Getty Barrage" now better known as "Getty Images Extortion Letters".
http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/cease-and-desist-letter-received-from-getty-images-5053.htmlOn July 8, 2008, I "discovered" Oscar Michelen when I read his insightful, rational AVVO post. Finally, I found a lawyer that "got" and understood my argument and position. Discovering Oscar was the result of my persistent search for a grounded, rational lawyer who might understand my perspective beyond the whole generic B.S. that if there is a copyright infringement you were automatically subject to a $150,000 lawsuit claim. Even with my limited knowledge back then, I thought most of the lawyers that shared their opinion on the subject was talking theoretically and spewing horseshit. From the very beginning, I never believed that any rational court or judge would rule I had to pay even 10% of that $150K given my particular set of circumstances of unintentional (innocent) infringement.
On July 9, 2008, following my invitation email to Oscar, he graciously responded back by making one of ELI's first and earliest discussion forum posts.
http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/comments-by-attorney-oscar-michelen-regarding-getty-images-and-extortionletterin/As you can read for yourself, the tone of that post does not reflect the easy familiarity that Oscar and I enjoy today. Nonetheless, that post remains a very important one that launched the beginnings of what would ultimately the ELI Community.
In the days that followed July 9, 2008, there was a flurry of email exchanges (which I still have) between Oscar and myself as we got to know each other and worked on the beginnings of what would become his innovative Defense Letter Program. I recall our early phone conversations to be easy and mutually respectful. It didn't take long for our professional relationship to grow as we had complementary skills and took a symbiotic approach to building ELI.
Of course, there are many more stories that followed as the weeks and months passed but those early days and weeks of building ELI with Oscar were special. Few know the exact chronology of what happened on what dates. However, I have managed to keep and archive those emails for reference.
To be clear, ELI has organically grown far beyond what Oscar and I ever envisioned. We have literally had thousands of readers and visitors come through this website the last six years. Along the way, we have met and gained some smart, committed, and courageous friends and allies that support what we do.
As long as copyright extortionists continue extorting individuals and small business with their outrageous financial demands, ELI, the ELI Community, its network of friends and allies will continue to educate others and grow its membership. And the losers who make their money off of taking unfair advantage off of the legally ignorant can be sure there are many eyes and ears paying close attention to every move they make.
Happy Birthday to ELI on its 6th year of existence. Onward and upwards to Year 7.
Topic: Happy 6th Birthday to ELI! (Read 5576 times)